Faces and Hands
by Harpomatic
Summary: -The girl made an especially dramatic hand movement, and the back of her hand hit Delphine in the face. Delphine was preparing to lay into her accidental assailant, when their head whipped around, looking mortified. The girl was surprisingly pretty.- A different take on a common AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, this idea sprang into my head a few weeks ago and it's been dying to get out. I'm not the most knowledgeable about this topic so if anyone has any corrections for what I've written, tell me and I'll correct them. Also, I want to write a few more AUs of this length, so if anyone has an AU they'd like to see, leave it in the reviews or in my inbox, I'll try to write it. Feel free to check out my other story, DHS, which I'll be updating as soon as I can. Enjoy!**

Delphine walked into the lecture hall, she wanted to sit as close to front of her animal behavior class as possible. She looked towards the front and saw that there was only one seat left, and it was next to two girls who were talking animatedly, moving their hands rapidly. The one whose face she could see was laughing at something the other girl had said. Delphine took a deep breath, hoping they wouldn't carry on like that for the entire class.

She made her way down and sat next to the two girls, leaning over and pulling her supplies out of her backpack. When she leaned back up, the girl who was facing away from her made an especially dramatic hand movement, and the back of her hand hit Delphine in the face. Delphine flinched and took her earbuds out, preparing to lay into her accidental assailant, whose head whipped around, looking mortified. The girl was surprisingly pretty, she wore glasses, and had a small hoop nose ring; her hair hung in neat dreadlocks and she wore a look of absolute mortification. Before the girl could say anything, her friend spoke on her behalf.

"Oh my god! Are you okay? I am so sorry about that. We were getting a little rambunctious. It won't happen again." The other girl apologized. Delphine looked her over, she looked a little uptight, she wore her hair in a ponytail, her bangs cut straight along her face, and she somehow looked even _more_ mortified than the girl who had actually hit her. Before Delphine could respond, the professor entered the hall and the bangs-girl hurried up to the front to greet them. Delphine turned back to her things and a few minutes later, the class started.

Delphine took notes diligently, hardly looking away from the spiral she was writing in. It was during a brief lull in the lecture when Delphine saw a piece of paper enter her field of vision. The glasses-girl had slid her a note. Delphine looked at her a second, the girl looked at her and then back to the note. Delphine picked it up and tried to unfold it as discreetly as possible,

_Sorry for hitting you in the face, I get a little excited when I talk. _

Delphine picked up her pen,

_It's okay. I'm sure it was an accident._ She passed it to the glasses-girl, who read it, smiled, and focused back on the lecture. The professor started speaking again, but Delphine had trouble concentrating. She looked at the girl in her periphery. She was taking notes without looking at her paper, staring at the front of the hall with unparalleled attention. Delphine followed her gaze, her eyes landed on bangs-girl, who was standing at the front of the hall, about six feet to the left of the professor. It took a few seconds for Delphine to key into what she was doing. Was she—was she signing? Delphine looked back to glasses-girl, she was watching bangs-girl's hands closely, writing down what they said.

_She's deaf. That's why she was gesturing so much, she was signing._ Delphine realized. Satisfied with the conclusion she had reached, she turned her attention back to the lecture.

Forty-five minutes later, the lecture was over, and Delphine felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. She turned to see glasses-girl smiling meekly. She gave little wave,

"Hi, I'm Cosima, I just wanted to say I'm sorry again. Totally my fault." She said, signing along with her words. She seemed comfortable in her communication, her hand movements were enthusiastic, fluid. Her voice was deeper and throatier than Delphine would have expected, she spoke a little bit louder than normal. Delphine smiled,

"It's no problem, I'm not mad. I'm Delphine, by the way." She stuck out her hand to shake Cosima's. The girl shook back, cocking her head to the side,

"You have an accent. Where are you from?" She asked. Delphine was a bit surprised that Cosima had picked up on it.

"Yes, I'm French. How can you tell?" She asked.

"I can read lips, yours form words differently." Cosima explained, "And rather attractively, might I add." Her grin grew even more. Delphine blushed, the girl was undeniably charming. By now, bangs-girl was standing beside Cosima, she introduced herself to Delphine,

"Hi, I'm Alison, Cosima's friend."

"I'm Delphine, it's nice to meet you. Are you deaf also?" She asked, Alison shook her head,

"No, I've been friends with Cosima for a while, I interpret for her in a few of her classes." Alison explained. She turned back to Cosima, signing something. She responding by putting a finger up, signifying '_one second._' Cosima looked to Delphine again,

"I still feel really bad about hitting you, do you mind if I take you out for coffee as an apology?" She asked. Alison grinned, apparently used to her friend's charm. Delphine found herself blushing again,

"I'm starting to think that you did this just to ask me out." She joked. Cosima laughed,

"No, I normally just hit on girls figuratively." She said, smiling even wider.

"I would love to get coffee, with you, Cosima." Delphine said.

_Five months later_

Delphine woke up, squinting a little. The sun was shining through the bedroom curtains and right into her eyes. She turned to look at the person sleeping beside her, the girl looked even smaller when she was asleep. Delphine inched closer to the girl and hummed gently into Cosima's shoulder. The vibrations woke her up, she rubbed her eyes and looked at her girlfriend, smiling sleepily. Delphine smiled back, Cosima was cutest when she was waking up.

'_Good morning._' Delphine signed. Cosima could read lips, but it felt wrong to interrupt the peaceful silence of the room. Delphine immediately took it upon herself to learn as much sign language as quickly as possible, she didn't want to rely on passing notes, and she felt a bit useless when Cosima read her lips all the time, especially after the shorter girl admitted that sometimes following along and keeping up with Delphine's accent was a bit taxing. She was miles better than she used to be, but she still struggled from time to time. Cosima was unbelievably patient with her, helping her with words and correcting her form whenever Delphine asked.

'_Good morning._' Cosima signed back. '_What do you want to do today?_' Delphine thought for a second,

'_Nothing._' She answered. Cosima chuckled and rolled back over. Delphine draped an arm around her and the two fell back asleep.


	2. Passive Me, Aggressive You

**Hey guys, I know I said that this would just be a one shot but I got a lot of good feedback had a few ideas for an extra chapter. I meant to post this last week but got distracted by the premier which was DOPE. I'm not really sure how to label this chapter, but it is definitely a ****_lot_**** more angsty than the previous chapter. Enjoy this chapter, I'm pretty sure it'll be the last update to this story. Like I said, feel free to correct me on any mistakes I may make, and be sure to check out my other story DHS, which I am working to update. **

Delphine gripped the steering wheel, trying not to focus on a fuming Cosima in the passenger's seat. She could see the woman in her periphery, her arms were crossed, her eyes were on fire; Delphine was surprised there wasn't a hole burned into the dashboard.

Part of the blonde was relieved that she was driving. With her eyes and hands focused on controlling the car, it gave her an excuse to not to talk to her very angry girlfriend. Another part of her felt immense shame at this relief. She loved Cosima, she hated that she was upset at her and she hated that she was looking for an excuse to not talk to her. A third part of her felt an even greater shame at the entire situation. Full, uninhibited emotional expression came hard for the blonde.

She'd never been very good at showing affection; it was one of the constants through all of her past relationships. It had been a strain on those too, but with Cosima, it was an even greater barrier because unlike her previous relationships, her lover depended on the cues Delphine gave. It wasn't like her and Cosima couldn't communicate effectively, the problem arose when there was no talking. Delphine had learned quickly that sign language was a very literal language. There wasn't a lot of room for metaphors and figures of speech, so a lot of the emotional aspects communication came from facial expressions and body language, and since Delphine's body language was naturally closed off, Cosima was left in the dark most of the time. Cosima had little use for aloofness, but it seems that that was all Delphine could offer, despite how hard she tried.

What frustrated Delphine to no end was that it seemed like she was the only person in Cosima's life facing that problem. Alison was always very keyed into how Cosima felt, and never had any trouble connecting with her friend. For a while, the blonde just thought that this was because Alison had known Cosima for years, and in time she herself would be good at letting Cosima know how she felt, but she'd introduced Cosima to her friend Felix about a month into their relationship, and the two had hit it off almost immediately. Within hours, they were joking and goofing around like old friends despite the communication barrier.

And compared to Cosima, everyone was stony. The brunette gave so much to everything she was a part of. Even without the use of her voice, she was still able to fill rooms with her enthusiasm. While Cosima had a tendency to project her feelings outward, Delphine always found herself internalizing her own. She understood that this plus her feeble grasp at sign language made it hard for Cosima to know what was in her mind. As expected, Cosima finally got fed up with Delphine's aloofness and blew up at her in a department store, angrily signing at her to _just speak_.

Delphine looked towards her girlfriend, her stomach turned when she saw the frustrated tears on her face, probably there because of her inability to communicate. The blonde felt so incredibly angry with herself that she let out a frustrated growl before she slammed her hand on the steering wheel and pulled onto the side of the road, putting the car in park. Cosima looked to Delphine, her eyes now more confused than hurt. Delphine grabbed Cosima's hands and clasped them in her own, bringing them to her forehead in a silent apology. She released the brunette's hands and looked at her, gathering her thoughts.

'_I'm sorry, I don't know how to sign this; I have to speak." _Delphine signed. Cosima just nodded. "I'm sorry I'm so bad at sign language, I'm sorry I can't express my feelings well in general. You are so good at letting me know how you feel and I am so bad at it, even without talking. You do not deserve how I treat you." Delphine said as slowly as she possibly could in her current emotional state, she was so upset that she was honestly surprised she wasn't speaking in French. Cosima nodded again, eyes flicking up to the blonde's eyes and then back to her lips. Delphine continued, "I wish I was half as expressive as you, but every time I want to say something, or show you how I feel, I fall short. I don't know what to do to fix it. I love you so much and it feels like a punch in the stomach every time I can't express that the way I want to." She said, speaking a little faster this time. Cosima reached for Delphine's hand,

"Delphine, stop. I understand." She said. Her voice was hoarse with disuse. The girl thought for a minute, "I know that you have trouble expressing these things, but I know that you feel them. I've gotten pretty good at reading people, despite how hard it is. Don't be too hard on yourself." Cosima paused again, obviously not used to speaking aloud. She gathered her thoughts, "What frustrates me is your hesitancy. I mean, English isn't even your first language and you're learning how to speak it with your hands, for God's sake. I know that it's hard for you, I'm not expecting perfection. All I want is for you to _attempt_. I love you, too, and I don't care how you express your emotions, as long as you try. If you're shy about that, we'll figure out a different way for you to let me know what's in your mind." Cosima finished. Delphine looked confused,

_What do you mean?_ She signed. Cosima's words had calmed her down quite a bit and her hands had stopped shaking enough for her to sign. Cosima kept speaking, though,

"How about, every time you feel shy about showing affection, you make this sign. Cosima faced her palms towards her body, her fingers facing each other. She put up her first two fingers and her thumb on each hand, she brought them towards each other, putting her fingers down when her knuckles met, just leaving her thumbs up on each hand. Delphine mimicked the action, staring intently. "Now, you'll have a way of letting me know how you feel without having to be too open about it. Do you like that idea?" She asked. Delphine grinned and nodded. The two held hands for a few more minutes before Delphine pulled back onto the road.

It went like that, the two women using the sign to silently assure the other of their feelings. Delphine used it when they were in public and she was feeling reserved. She'd use it during gatherings, when they were around friends and family, when public displays of affection felt like too much. Cosima used it when she saw Delphine getting anxious and needed to be reassured that she was doing fine. The use of the sign evolved over time and became somewhat of a secret code between the two of them, the meaning was determined by a head movement, a turn of the eyebrows, a pursing of the lips. _Are you okay? _When Cosima seemed especially removed from a conversation. _What's wrong? _  
When Delphine came home from work, looking stressed. _Let's get out of here._ Motioned from across Felix's loft on more than one occasion. Ultimately, the sign meant _don't worry_. It was used at family reunions and on car rides and on first days of school; whenever the other needed to be reeled back into the real world.

Of course, they argued about other things, but it was always normal couple stuff, like where to put a piece of furniture, when to leave for a flight or an appointment, what color to paint a room. And over time Delphine learned that when it came to showing emotions, she didn't have to be perfect, she just had to be present.


End file.
